No "when the fetus is viable" option, I note.
This question and topic of the thread of course leads us into the inevitable abortion issue, the context for which this question always appears in American culture. Some background:
Abortion 200 years ago was not seen as a great moral issue. It was performed primarily to hide the illicit sexual activity that led to its occasion. It was usually done on women who were single.
The first abortion laws enacted in the US came about in the early 19th century. The first law against abortion took place in Connecticut in 1821, and merely outlawed the use of dangerous poisions to induce abortion. By 1840 only eight states had any anti-abortion regulations.
In the 1800's aborticants, whether effective or not, were advertised in the popular press. One historian estimates one abortion was performed for every four live births, and the birth rate among white women in America fell by 50% during this time.
The anti abortion movement gained weight with the efforts of the fledgling AMA around 1857. This was partly due to concerns over risks of abortion at the time (mortality was high) and partly due to increased awareness over fetal development and the ethics of taking a developing life.
The Catholic Church didn't have a stance on abortion in the early 19th century, as the issue wasn't present in church dogma. Theologians believed that "animation" or "ensoulment" occured at "the quickening" where their was noted movement in the uterus. A male fetus was considered animated after forty days, a female after eighty days. Abortion was not deemed a homicide prior to ensoulment. In 1869 the church was influenced by new medical information concerning fetal development, and took its first strict anti-abortion stance.
Now on to the question "when does life begin?" Further and more specifically, let's ask the questions this question in itself raises. I offer no ready answers:
The term "life" could be applied to a zygote. 24 hours after the sperm enters the egg the genetic material is combined. It takes that long for the process to occur. Is it life then? Some say no. It is incapable of mitosis during that window of genetic intermixing.
What if the zygote combines with another fertilized zygote and creates a totally new zygote? This happens on occasion. Did we have two "lives" collated into one? Or is the new zygote two people in one?
If we induce abortion after the 24 hour window on a soccer ball shaped zygote, is it murder? Is it murder of one person, or should we anticipate that the zygote might have split into one or more twins/triplets/quadruplets and then call it a mass murder? How do we scientifically determine this?
If we deem it murder to kill this "life," after conception as some of us do deem it, do we then charge the abortionist with murder? Do we charge the mother as an accessory to murder, or as a principle defendant? Do we jail/execute one or both? Is there a statute of limitations on these murders? Do we jail/execute past abortionists and women for having had abortions ten or twenty years ago?
If we state that life begins at conception and deem abortion murder do we make exceptions to abortion in the event of risk to the mother's life or health? What if the conception were due to rape or incest? What if the fetus is horribly disfigured and likely to die soon after birth? I've heard pro-life advocates allow for these exceptions to varying degrees, yet still term abortion murder. Is abortion in these cases then acceptable murder?
When doctors artificially fertilize eggs for implantation in a woman who is having difficulty in conceiving, do we then prosecute them for discarding those unused zygotes? This happens frequently. Are they murderers? Do we use their efforts at providing the woman a chance at motherhood as mitigating factors during sentencing?
Is an IUD, which prevents implantation of a zygote on the uterine wall, a lethal weapon? Should a woman using this be tried as a murderer? How many murders should she be charged with? How does one determine whether any zygote were killed, much less several or dozens? Is the doctor prescribing it an accessory?
Given that 50% of all egg fertilizations spontaneously abort. If technology were to become available that reduced these spontaneous abortions, should the state
compel sexually active women to take these medications/procedures in order to save the life of the zygote/fetus? If bringing these fetuses to a level of viability substantially increased their chances of being born deformed, is this state action moral?
Compounding this issue further: What if fetal stem cell research itself leads to increased viability of fetuses that would otherwise spontaneously abort? Do we use this research? What if the research took place in another country? Does their culpability erase ours, thereby allowing us to use the fruits of their research?
References:
http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/
Laurence H. Tribe, "Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes," W.W. Norton and Company, New York. 1990.
Regards,
Steve
